sipar69

I really liked the look of the FLA.

Hmmmm that is quite nice....

Have you got too much time on your hands Captain Pedantry? Seriously though, all fair points but my main point is that I actually enjoy the process of washing, prepping and waxing, so those coatings aren't really my thing.

Coatings like the Williams are probably a good idea if you haven't got time or can't be bothered with waxing etc but if you get a kick out of keeping the car shiny I'm not sure they're worth the expense. I used to get a good result on my last Z with the coating but I could never tell how much that was down to a decent wax and how much part the coating played. I use Jetseal 109 on my current Z - lasts for months and costs a lot less than the Williams type stuff (£30 compared to £300+) (plus you can remove and re-coat a few times a year, and add a layer of wax every now and then to boost the shine). Additionally, the Wiliams definitely didn't prevent those occasional little hairline scratches and little surface scuffs that every car seems to pick up from washing etc. The easy way to remove them is a quick polish with a cloth and something like Autoglym Super Resin polish, but presumably you remove a patch of the coating at the same time.

Very cute kitten Dan.

I had Williams Ceramic Coating on my last Z. Still used to wax it though - I enjoyed the process and being outside, and it looked nice and shiny afterwards

Highly recommend this for the car as a whole, not just badges. Really good stuff. http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/sealants/chemical-guys-jet-seal-109/prod_484.html

Looks nice in red. . They did the Mk1 in that colour in the States. If it had been available here I'd have been tempted....

Certainly does. I'm in a supposedly very low crime area but it didn't stop someone pinching my cherished Z valve caps. And that was with the car cover on!!! Difficult to avoid this sort of thing when you've got no off street parking. I now use the Richbrook anti theft caps.

Does with HFCs.

Ark DTS Never heard one in person but read a lot about them. Bit louder than Stillen and available with blue burnt tips (full or partial). If you have (or add) HFCs it should be pretty loud. http://www.arkperformance.com/Nissan-370Z-DT-S-Burnt-Tip-2009-ON-3-7L-p/sm0901-0209d.htm Oh dear. And it was me who advised you to get one. . Guess it just goes to show that exhausts is a very subjective issue....

Looks great + cool photos.

It's a cloth with sticky gunk on it. In the grand metaphysical scheme of things it's worth...nothing.

Because you're a grumpy old bugger?

Available here. Get all my stuff from this site. If you register you can build up points for discounts on future purchases. http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/detailing-clay/detailing-clay-bars/carpro-polyshave-clay-cloth/prod_1361.html

Wouldn't mind a pet rat someday. (Live one, obviously).

Doesn't really bother me - got used to it by now. As said, just distract yourself with an exhaust that sounds good.

Highly unlikely unless he was sick (or a smallish kitten). Foxes hunt animals that can't harm them and although a fox may well prevail in a fight with a cat instinct tells them that a cat can do a fair bit of damage to it. There's plenty of videos on You Tube showing fox/cat encounters and you can see how foxes are quite cautious when faced with a cat. Regarding a lost cat you should check out some of the lost and found cat sites on the internet and also any animal rescue centres in your area, data goes back for years on most sites. Pete Agreed. Foxes are generally wary of cats.

If you think about it, a lot of people you see in 'nice' cars tend not to be young, as most of us don't get into a financial position to buy one until a bit later in life. Buy what you want and enjoy. (Apparently the wife of the guy who runs the Nissan dealership in Winchester is 70+ and her daily driver is a 370Z)

My first 370 was a GT Ultimate, the actual car they featured in the Top Gear review against a Z4. The orange interior was really smart. As you say - only downside was the pre-Connect a Premium sat nav. Still a great car though

Glad you're enjoying 370 ownership.

Don't know who I bother sometimes . Me...I've got a Stillen....I mentioned it earlier in this thread I'm not supercharged but here's a review if you're interested. Will and Colin are also fans of the Stillen. It's not overly loud but a great exhaust. If you don't run stock cats you can expect some rasp but nothing as loud as you currently seem to have. http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/83723-my-nismo-given-the-cobra-and-stillen-treatment/

These guys are supposed to be very good. Haven't used them myself but they do the work onsite and don't favour powder coating. http://www.thewheelwizard.ltd.uk http://www.thewheelwizard.ltd.uk/powder_coating.html (Someone will probably post shortly that they got a perfect repair done at X place and that's great, but the issue is that it's very much pot luck with these wheels due to the lack of a code to create consistency).

Thanks for that will look them up, see what they recommend. its been 2 days and I am still p*ssed off at myself for curbing the wheel. Lots of discussion over the years on here about refurbishing the 370's wheels. First thing to note - you are not guaranteed a perfect match if they send the wheel away for powder coating. In fact, it would be better to take it to a place that does the wheel with the car on site so they can compare the colour to the other wheels. The 370's wheels are a two stage finish (black base with silver over the top) so there's no paint code to work from. I believe this is even true of the silver wheels. I had all four wheels on my previous 370 painted in a colour that could be matched to a code because of problems after kerbing them. Now I just park the Nismo very very carefully. Don't care who's watching or how long it takes - the wheels stay well away from the kerb Take the car to a specialist refurb outfit that doesn't send the wheel away and discuss what they can do. If you're a perfectionist like me, you might want to consider asking them to do both wheels on the same side. It will obviously cost more but if there's a slight mismatch from the original colour you won't notice it at all, whereas two slightly mismatched wheels on the same side might bug the heck out of you. The only other option is to see if you can find someone who will try a spot repair, but i doubt you'd be happy with the result. You're probably feeling exactly like I felt the first time I scraped a wheel - it shouldn't be this difficult to get it sorted!? I'm afraid this is one of the few downsides of 370Z ownership - soon teaches you to park sooooo carefully

That's not a rasp though, that's a metallic rattle. That's if we're talking about the same sound - 11/12 seconds and 18/19 seconds. Not sure I agree - as I said earlier - it sounds like a significantly worse version of the noise I get from my exhaust / HFC combination and I definitely have no issues with knocking or loose parts. If you watch the video you will see that noise appears to occur when the car reaches the limit he's revving it to and just before the revs start to drop down again. If it was a knocking issue I would expect to hear the noise as the revs climb - not just when they start to fall. Perhaps a loose joint or something is making it worse, but I think it's an issue with pronounced rasp. I guess the only way to find out for sure though is the checks that have been suggested. Must be a 370 thing then My cars king of rasp, as it sounds like a poxy civic with the headers on And it doesn't make any noise close to that :S Probably doesn't help that 'rasp' means different things to different people but here's an example of what somebody terms a raspy BMW exhaust - if you listen carefully a similar sound occurs when the revs start to drop at 48 seconds - a sort of buzz - it's not as loud as on the OP's car but pretty much the same sound. It does seem to be pretty much par for the course to expect some rasp when combining an after-market exhaust with anything other than stock cats on the 370. I never got it at all when I just had the Stillen exhaust but it does seem to happen a bit since I added HFCs. Good thing is the overall sound more than makes up for it.